Ancient Artifacts from the Erotic Museum in Paris

A few years ago I visited the Erotic Museum in Paris. The museum is a dark place hidden away from the eyes of mainstream tourists. I found out about it from another numismatist.

For those of you who are wondering, I was looking for inspiration for my research, since back then I was determined to embark into a long and fruitful trip into the study of ancient sexualities! I lost my interest very soon, since my love remains firmly in numismatics.

As I took the trouble of getting the photos, I thought I should share some of them with you. At the time I was focusing on the positioning of the collection within the museum, so I took a lot of photos of the signs. I would spare you the details in this post and I will include only the pottery.

Priapos is the obvious male god of fertility. The massive member on the pot is eagerly worshipped in front of an altar!

I was always infatuated with Roman lamps and their erotic scenes. As an undergraduate I made infinite lists of them. Back then there was no classification or serious study on the topic. The task was so onerous that I gave up a few months later!

More erotic scenes on pottery destined for the symposium

This ancient orgy is depicted on the outside of the cup for easy visual access!

A conglomeration of artefacts that takes the trained eye some time to disentangle

1 Comment

I enjoyed this, and your other posts, particularly those on ancient Greece. I have written blog posts on the ancient world, especially one on the Antikythera Mechanism which you might find interesting: http://www.theoryofirony.com/?s=antikythera&submit=Go. In any event, keep up the good work!